Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Quickie Movie Reviews

Paranormal Activity (on DVD)What if the idiots from the Blair Witch Project never left the house? This movie answers that question! Thankfully, the camera-work is much less nausea-inducing. It's best when watched with someone who believes in ghosts and/or jumps at every loud noise. Ultimately though, there isn't much there beyond a haunted house story told through "found footage," but it's damned impressive for an ultra low budget feature.

If you get the DVD with the alternate ending, watch that version. The theatrical ending is SILLY.

Sherlock HolmesScrew that mystery crap, lets just make an action movie! Sherlock Holmes as buddy cop action flick works surprisingly well, thanks in no small part to Robert Downey, Jr. Who would have thought, just 5 years ago, that recidivist drug addict RDJ would be the lead in two hugely successful blockbusters? Rachel McAdams is completely miscast though.

AvatarA lot of critics have accused this film of being "Dances with Wolves" in space ... and they're right. But so what? The story may be derivative, but at least it has an actual plot and characters with comprehensible motivations (unlike Transformers or G.I.JOE), plus it looks phenomenal in 3-D. Admittedly, that's setting the bar pretty low, but sometimes good enough really is good enough.